Verbs:뛰어다니다 = to run around an area돌려보다 = to turn and look알려주다 = to let somebody know지켜보다 = to protect by watching (to watch over)비켜서다 = to stand/step aside올려놓다 = to place something on something뛰어가다 = to run to (to go by running)달려가다 = to run to (to go by running)뛰어오다 = to come running달려오다 = to come running매혹하다 = to captivate통하다 = to flow through, to move through쭈그리다 = to crouch, to squat맡다 = to smell배신하다 = to betray종합하다 = to put together, to synthesize사로잡다 = to captivate전력하다 = to try one’s best마무리하다 = to finish off, to wrap up

In this lesson, you will learn how to apply ~아/어(서) to sentences. Explaining this concept is probably the most difficult of all grammatical forms, simply because the meaning is so subtle. Nonetheless, this concept is very common, and needs to be explained. Let’s get started.

Clause Connector: ~아/어(서)

In Lesson 17, you learned about the grammatical principle ~고 and how it can be used to indicate that one clause (or action) happens after another. For example:

You also learned how it can be compared to ~아/어(서), which can also be added to sentences where one clause (or action) happens after another. For example, in Lesson 17 you saw the following simple example:

In addition to its cause-and-effect meaning (which you learned about in Lesson 37), connecting two clauses with ~아/어(서) can have different meanings. Let’s look at each meaning individually:

An Intrinsic Temporal Relationship: ~아/어(서)When ~아/어(서) is used to connect two clauses, the action in the first clause and the action in the second clause occur in the order in which they are said. This is the same as when ~고 is used, but there doesn’t need to be a direct connection between the actions in the two clauses when ~고 is used. For example:

In the above examples, aside from the fact that the first action and the second action occurred one after another, there is no direct relationship between the two actions. When you use ~아/어(서), however, there is more likely to be an intrinsic relationship between the two clauses. That is – not only did the second action happen after the first action, but the second action happened because the first action allowed it to.

In its simplest form, this is why (as you learned in Lesson 17) ~아/어(서) is often added to 가다 and 오다. The second action of the clause occurred only after/because the first clause allowed it to happen.

For example:

저는 학교에 가서 공부할 거예요 = I will go to school and then study
(“Studying” could not have happened if I didn’t go to the school, right?)

우리는 집에 와서 바로 잤어요 = We came home and went to sleep immediately
(“Sleeping” could not have happened if we didn’t come home, right?)

Below are some examples where you can see ~아/어(서) being used to connect two clauses:

Here is a sentence that appeared on the cover of a Korean Cosmopolitan magazine:

“원하는 일이 있다면 많은 사람들을 만나 관계를 형성하고 멘토를 찾으세요. 또 다른 기회가 열릴 겁니다.” = If you have something (a job) that you want to do, meet lots of people, and develop relationships, and search for a mentor. Another opportunity will be open.

In all of the cases above, ~고 can replace ~아/어(서). As I mentioned, you are more likely to find ~아/어(서) being used if you feel there is an intrinsic connection between the two clauses.

At this point, I would like to introduce you to a usage of ~아/어서 that you haven’t learned about yet.

An Action Happens Through the Means of Another Action: ~아/어서~아/어서 can be attached to a verb to indicate “how” or “through what means” a second action takes place. The simplest example you will find would be:

Here, ~아/어서 is added to 걷다 to indicate that the second action (going home) occurred by walking. In these types of sentences, where ~아/어서 is being used to indicate a “method” or “means,” “서” is not optional. The sentence above is not the same as this sentence:

저는 걸어 집에 갔어요

Here are two examples that are similar to examples introduced in the previous section, but modified to fit the usage of “through” instead of “and then:”

What’s going on? I thought you said that the “서” was not optional? If it has to be included, why has it been omitted from the examples above?

There is a lot of overlap between the usages of ~아/어서 and ~아/어(서). The first one (where 서 is not optional) is used to indicate a method in which an action occurred. The second one (where 서 is optional) is used to indicate a direct temporal relationship.

The problem here is that the examples immediately above (which show a temporal relationship between two clauses) can also include 서 with no difference in meaning. For example:

Here, we have an incredibly ambiguous situation. What meaning is the speaker intending to make? I have had many discussions with Korean people about these types of sentences. For example, I would ask them about the specific meaning and feel of this sentence:

The answer: The specific meaning is up to the speaker to make clear or for the listener to interpret. It may be unclear in the situation, or the context might be able to indicate the specific meaning. Either way, the result is usually the same.

There is a lot of overlap between these two usages. However, in some situations you will find that a meaning expressed by ~아/어서 cannot be expressed by ~아/어(서). This is an example that was presented above:

This sentence can only mean that the person went home by walking. It cannot mean that the person walked, and then went home. As such, the following sentence is incorrect:

저는 걸어 집에 갔어요

Now that we know all of that, let’s look at specific ways ~아/어(서) is often used.

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Used to combine the meanings of two words: ~아/어You will often see two words combined with ~아/어 to combine their meanings. This compound word (or whatever you want to call it) can then be used anywhere in a sentence that a normal verb could be used. When used like this, “서” is not attached to ~아/어.

You first learned about these types of words in Lesson 15 with words like 들어가다 and 들어오다. However, in that lesson I wasn’t able to discuss how the words (like 들다 and 가다) are connected via ~아/어.

An example of a word where this is done is “뛰어다니다”

The word “다니다” means to go/walk around a place, and the word “뛰다” means to run. By combining these words with the use of “~아/어”, we create a word that combines the meanings of the two. Below are some examples of words where this is done:

The words above are all stand-alone verbs (albeit, created by connecting their meanings via ~아/어). The first three words in that list have already been introduced in the vocabulary lists of previous lessons. For example, 걸어가다and 걸어오다are introduced in Lesson 17. The remaining verbs in the list above have not been introduced in the vocabulary list of any lesson yet, so they are included in the vocabulary list of this lesson. Here are some examples of these verbs in sentences:

Sometimes you will notice two verbs connected with ~아/어 with a space between the first and second verb. You don’t really need to distinguish between the two, but when there is a space it means that you are looking at two separate verbs that are being connected by ~아/어 to combine their meanings. If you do not see the space, you are looking at one word. Again, you don’t really need to worry about this, because Korean people often don’t know when to use the space or not. Nonetheless, here are some examples of two separate verbs being combined by ~아/어. Technically, these are not seen as standalone verbs and are therefore not included in any vocabulary lists.

걸어 다니다 = to walk around an area
돌려 보내다 = to send something back
주워 모으다 = to pick up and collect
뛰어 넘다 = to run/jump over something
꺼내 놓다 = to take out and put down
걸어 놓다 = to place something hanging/to hang up
결합해 만들어지다 = to be made through combining something
아껴 쓰다 = to save something (to use, but to save while using)
걷어 올리다 = to tuck up one’s sleeves/pants

Despite being two words, the fact that their meanings/usages combine often confuses Korean people and makes them think that they are one word. Either way, they can be used in sentences where the meaning of the whole construction wants to be expressed. For example:

Before we finish, there are two specific words that often get connected to ~아/어(서), which I want to talk about.

The many meanings of 통하다

The word “통하다” has many meanings depending on the situation. Most of these meanings somehow relate to two things being connected, and there being a passageway or flow between those two things. When I first studied the meanings of 통하다, I always envisioned some sort of tube connecting the objects in question. Although kind of ridiculous, I always found it helpful to think about it like this.

Here are some of the many meanings 통하다 can have:

For something to be flowing (i.e. not blocked) 이 방은 공기가 잘 안 통해요 = Air doesn’t flow well in this room

For two places to be connected:이 식당에 옆 식당과 통하는 길이 있어요 = There is a road/passage that connects this restaurant with the restaurant next door

To be able to understand what one is saying (usually 말이통하다)그 사람과 말이 안 통해서 그 사람을 이해할 수 없어요 = I couldn’t understand that person because I didn’t know what he was trying to say (couldn’t communicate with him)

To have nothing to talk about/not talk very often:우리 아빠가 죽은 후에 엄마랑 말이 잘 안 통해요 = Since our dad died, I haven’t had much to talk about with my mother (haven’t talked with my mother)

Okay… so why am I introducing 통하다 in this lesson?
통하다 has some usages where it is common to see it being used attached with ~아/어(서) to form 통해(서). In these cases, 통하다 usually translates to “through.” The following are some of these usages.

As you can see, the word 서둘러 doesn’t necessarily need to be in those sentences. All of those previous sentences would have essentially the same meaning if I were to write them as:

우리는 빨리 나갔어요
선생님은 학생들에게 수업을 빨리 가르쳤어요
비가 와서 밖으로 나가서 빨리 차로 뛰었어요

The usage of ~아/어(서) in Korean sentences is very ambiguous and takes a long time to fully grasp. With many Korean grammatical principles, the best/only way to completely understand a grammatical principle is to be exposed to it enough. The goal of this lesson was to explain ~아/어(서) so that when you are exposed to it, you will be able to extrapolate its meaning. After continuous exposure, your understanding of ~아/어(서) will become more and more natural.

That’s it for this lesson!

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